OXNARD, VENTURA : Panel OKs Money to Widen Bridge
A key congressional panel has added $36.8 million to next year’s transportation spending bill to expand the Santa Clara River bridge on the Ventura Freeway and rebuild the interchanges on both sides of the river.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation agreed Tuesday to finance 80% of the $46 million project, said John Doherty, a spokesman for Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura).
The action is significant because appropriations subcommittees are the first, and often the most difficult, hurdle in a long legislative process in Congress. The money must still be approved by the full House Appropriations Committee, the House and Senate.
In addition, Congress has shied from funding such a large portion of state transportation projects in an effort to reduce spending. But Doherty said Lagomarsino was able to persuade the subcommittee to include the bridge project under the federal formula of paying 80%.
Under this formula, the state and cities of Oxnard and Ventura will have to contribute only $9.2 million to widen the seven-lane bridge to 12 lanes and make other improvements, he said.
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